Illinois COVID-19 Update: Vaccine shots given as IL reports 7,359 cases, 117 coronavirus deaths
Illinois faces $3.9 billion budget shortfall, Pritzker announces $700 million in cuts
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois public health officials reported 7,359 COVID-19 cases and 117 related deaths Tuesday as the first vaccines began being administered to healthcare workers. .
The total number of cases in Illinois now stands at 863,477, with a total of 14,509 deaths.
RAW VIDEO: First COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Illinois
Over a 24-hour period, officials said the state processed 92,922 specimens. In total there have been 11,962,010 specimens tested since the start of the pandemic in Illinois.
RELATED: Illinois coronavirus testing: Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Illinois, Chicago area
The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Dec. 8-14 is 10.3%.
The test positivity rate is a metric the state began providing in late October. It is calculated by using the total number of positive tests over the total number of tests. This is the metric being used to by state health officials to make decisions about mitigations.
CHICAGOLAND VACCINE GUIDE: See COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans for your area
As of Monday night, 4,965 people in Illinois were reported to be hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 1,057 patients were in the ICU with COVID-19 and 598 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Governor JB Pritzker addressed what may be the next stage of the pandemic at his Tuesday briefing: dealing with massive revenue shortfalls due to the impact of COVID-19 on business, commerce and industry. Pritzker announced $700 million in budget cuts from the executive branch, which he can cut without going to the General Assembly for approval.
WATCH: Gov. Pritzker speaks about COVID-19 induced budget cuts
Pritzker said the state is facing a $3.9 billion deficit this year alone. The cuts include $200 million from health and human services, $135 million from economy development, environment and culture, and $71 million from public safety, most significantly from the Department of Corrections.
"Because tax fairness was taken off the table there will be a real human impact here. And while we've scoured the budget for ways to cause the least pain, I'm sorry to say that we simply cannot prevent these losses from touching the real lives of our residents. We just can't," he said.
Response to the announced budget cuts, which can be taken unilaterally by the governor, has been quick. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin saying this is a "self-inflicted budgetary disaster."
The labor union AFSCME, representing state workers, released a statement saying in part, "It is grossly unjust to suggest that frontline state employees who have already sacrificed so much in our current health crisis should bear an outsized share of the burden of fixing the state's fiscal crisis as well."
Pritzker spoke earlier in the day from Peoria Tuesday morning and called it an "exciting moment" as healthcare workers began getting vaccinated.
"These healthcare workers have been working all throughout this pandemic, taking care of people on the front lines, these are our heroes and our heroes have now stepped forward to get their vaccine and to show the way for everybody else," Pritzker said.
But even as vaccination efforts ramp up around the state, some hospitals like Edwards and Advocate Aurora say they have not received shipments they expected to arrive Monday, forcing them to reschedule those employees who were already signed up for inoculations this week.
While there seems to be some confusion regarding when each hospital is set to receive their vaccines from, Gov. Pritzker said, none of these shipments were coming from the state.
"They not delayed. In fact, there was no delivery scheduled for any of them today," he said. "The Illinois Hospital Association, working with us and working with the individual hospitals, were responsible, working with the individual hospitals for scheduling when those things would be delivered to them. Some, no doubt, are more excited than others, and you know, put it out there, that they wouldn't be receiving them when they actually weren't scheduled."
The deaths reported Tuesday include:
-Adams County: 1 female 70s
-Boone County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
-Champaign County: 1 female 70s
-Clinton County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s
-Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 3 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 females 90s
-Cumberland County: 1 female 90s
-DuPage County: 2 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 3 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
-Edgar County: 1 male 80s
-Effingham County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
-Ford County: 1 male 80s
-Franklin County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
-Jackson County: 1 male 90s
- Jersey County: 1 female 80s
-Jo Daviess County: 1 male 70s
Kane County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
-Kankakee County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s
-Kendall County: 1 female 80s
-Knox County: 1 female 80s
-Lake County: 1 female 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
-LaSalle County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
-Lee County: 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 100+
-Livingston County: 1 male 80s
-Macon County: 1 male 90s
-Madison County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 3 males 90s
-Marion County: 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s
-Massac County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 60s
-McHenry County: 1 male 80s
-McLean County: 1 female 80s
-Ogle County: 1 male 60s
-Peoria County: 1 female 20s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s
-Perry County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
-Rock Island County: 1 male 60s
-Sangamon County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
-St. Clair County: 2 females 70s
-Stark County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 80s
-Stephenson County: 1 male 80s
-Vermilion County: 1 male 50s
-Will County: 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 3 males 90s, 1 female 100+
-Winnebago County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Woodford County: 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 90s
